That Fleeting Moment
by Dangerous Emotions
Summary: AU: DeiTen. Unknown reasons have caused Suna and Konoha to clash with one another. Kankuro and Tenten enter a fight; the results are horrific and leaves a dazed, burnt Tenten in the desert. Having admired her skills, a certain Akatsuki member has taken it upon himself to take care of the kunoichi- even if her heart is to be salvaged to revived the deceased Akasuna no Sasori.
1. White Rain

Her scrolls were flung into the air, their symbols of ink rippling from the ferocity of the throw. Tenten's burning brown eyes were locked on one particular shinobi of the Sand. Whatever happened to the alliance between them and Konoha was done now, and all Hell had broken loose in the desert. Kankuro's three puppets were as much a test to her as the Jounin exam. Her white blouse had been discarded because of all the poisonous weapons she had to dodge from his works. Now she was only in bandages and her maroon hakama already ripped at one knee.

Thousands of weapons of all sorts- kunai, sendon, sickles, shurikens of various sizes, katana and exploding spiked bombs rained down in aimed clouds, but not at Kankuro. He thought she had aimed for him, but to his surprise she wasn't.

Crow and Black Ant were decimated and blown to smithereens, their inner weapons and ashes scattering in the air. The Sand ninja stared at them in awe, before a very, very pissed expression crossed his worn and painted face.

"Goddamn you! Why is it that my sister beat you so easily!" Out of his fury Kankuro prepared another move involving Salamander. Tenten was panting on a sand dune several yards away, two green scrolls in her hands fluttering from the air down beside her. One brown brow spasmed from exhaustion. Her large scroll was still hooked to her waist, but she had refrained from using it because this was Kankuro. He had been allied with Konoha, along with Gaara and Temari. Gaara was having a breakdown, from what little information she gathered before Kankuro intervened her team's arrival to Suna.

Because Kankuro was long ranged and dealt with weapons, Tenten had the best rounded chance at defeating him. Poison was another story. She had accidentally breathed in some of the purple spray Crow had hit her with earlier. She squinted her eyes, noticing the blurring in her peripheral edges.

No, she would not give up. Old allies or not, Sunagakure had turned against Konoha for whatever reasons. It wasn't her job now to find out. Right now, she had to be a kunoichi, a future i_legend/i_ and rush to aid her friends against Gaara!

"I'm not sorry about this, brat!" Kankuro spat. Salamander's jaw unhinged in an unnatural drop. Tenten retracted, her eyes wide when she saw the burning flames growing in Salamander's mouth and then shooting forth towards her.

_He's not giving me much of a choice…!_ Tenten thought and grimaced.

Salamander's fire was a stream, not a large wall of flaming doom. Tenten crouched as low as she could to the sand and, with much effort, jumped high into the air, spinning for momentum and greater distance into the heated sky. She felt the sun burning her exposed shoulders, the freedom of the expanse around her. Tenten always had that awing ability to stay in the air and work her way with her weapons. Aerial attacks, of course, were secondary to none.

She unclicked the large scroll from its straps around her waist. Kankuro was watching her throw the large green scroll even higher above her. It unraveled every inch of it's length that it cast a wide shadow on the sands below. His eyes widened and he pointed Salamander up in her direction, now that Tenten could not move. He was trying to burn her scroll up before the weapons were summoned. At the same time, Salamander's back opened up and Kankuro leapt in for protection from the oncoming rain of steel.

"Sōgu: Tensasai!" Tenten screamed at the oncoming fire. Her scroll exploding in a white speeding flurry of hundreds and thousands of weapons. The sun glinted off of each one and the fire's intensity added on to it's brightness- it was a clash of red and white. Tenten shielded her face with her arms, palms out at the flames that were able to reach her. Bitten by the heat and propelled back by its force, Tenten's eyes flew open at the blinding sun above her.

She had no control over where she was going. Everything was so…slow. The metal from her headband shattered into tiny fragments, her cloth untying from her forehead and flapping farther away from her reaching, burnt fingers. Blood curdled around her face from her bottom lip. Every cut, sore, and bruise inflicted on her from before exploded in burning agony. And it was all so slow...even Kankuro's scream of agony and death, after the demolition of Salamander, the finality of it all. She was falling to the ground and lost both her shoes from the angle. She could not blink, only stare, stunned.

_Is it like this when you die?_ Tenten thought to herself, waiting to hit the sand.

* * *

To anyone watching the fight would have seen that Tenten was hurled out of the air and into the dunes with such speed and force, it was devastating brutal. Her hit made Deidara's eye twitch as he watched from among the dunes, concealed in tan traveling gear of a Suna citizen.

"Oooooooo," Tobi mused. Deidara looked down and found Tobi, similarly dressed, lying on his stomach in a girly fashion, but had wedged his way between Deidara's feet.

"Dead," Tobi said and pointed at where Tenten landed.

"IDIOT!" Deidara yelled and kicked Tobi in his head multiple times, each one earning a painful 'OW' yelp, or cry for senpai. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING BY MY ANKLES, HM!?" Finally, Deidara kicked Tobi under the chin and the taller boy flew back the sand hard. Deidara turned back to the fight with a irritable look.

"The sooner these kids get out of my way, the sooner I can snag up that boy's body for Sasori…" The fire was gone, having dissipated in the heated desert air. Deidara watching the fluttering green scroll of its entirety long, long, _long_ expanse flutter to the sand like fragile paper and not the death trap it was a moment before.

"Let's go Tobi," Deidara muttered and marched towards the battle scene. A crawling Tobi emerged from behind the rock, weakly whining. Deidara reached the area first, his eyes glancing over the sand…er, rather, there were so many weapons the sand was hardly visible. It was a weapon graveyard that stretched out almost as far as his eye could see. A segment of the scroll fluttered down behind him. Deidara grabbed it before it touched the ground and stared at the ink seals, studying the fuinjustu.

"Something simple, but so deadly, hm," he said to himself. Tobi appeared over his other shoulder trying to see what was on the paper. His noiseless presence startled Deidara and earned him an elbow in the throat. Tossing aside the paper Deidara used his scope to search out Kankuro's body. Among the weapons glinting sunlight in every which direction, his right eye couldn't pinpoint him. He scoffed and kicked at wooden pieces of the blown Salamander.

"Over there," Deidara said, pointing at a lump that was not weapon or wooden. He walked towards Kankuro's impaled form that was surrounded by contraptions he had built into Salamander and meant to protect him from large blasts. Tobi followed, playing his own game of stepping around the large windmill shurikens that jutted out of the sands. The gruesome sight of so much metal crushing in Kankuro's face deserved a grotesque response from Tobi and Deidara scrunched his nose.

"Zetsu-senpai would have better luck with this, huuuuh Deidara-senpai?" Tobi asked.

"We didn't expect a show, hm." Deidara knelt and began removing each blade that jutted into Kankuro's body. Every, single, one, took effort. Most had gone all the way through to the sand underneath Kankuro's back, and each one was covered in some type of organ once yanked out. Tobi made gagging expressions and it didn't make Deidara handle it any better.

The sight of blown in corpses he had grown used to because he had blown people's faces off before. He had never _smelt_ it so strongly though. He covered his nose with one arm and breathed the stiff smell of sand through his nose instead, trying to ward of the blood and other bodily scents of the deceased. Sasori-danna owed him so fucking much for this shit. Reconstructing a body and transferring memories and emotions to another's _heart_ was mind blowing and fucked up at the same time. Akatsuki needed Sasori again though. This forbidden technique was brought forth to them by Kakuzu, who he alone located one of two medical ninja who could perform the technique at the cost of their life.

This medic was at least Kakuzu's age, of course, and he was taken by force than offering.

"Guauh…GWWWWWAAAAAH…HAUIDGHIYHGFUUUUUUUUUUUUURG…!"

"SHUT UP TOBI!" Deidara yelled, turning sharply and flinging two bloody kunai at him. Tobi dodged like a sickened little girl, complete with a high-pitched yelp. "If you can't help me with this, go pick up the dead girl then!" Deidara suppressed the urge to gag from the horrific stench of Kankuro's maimed body. "If this fat ass's heart can't be fixed, we'll have to use hers for Sasori instead, hm!" Tobi ran off making odd noses and with his hands in the air. Deidara turned back to the body, wondering just how he was going to scrape out every last detail of this desert boy.

"As gruesome as you are now," Deidara spoke with his pinched nose. His irritation washed away from his face, becoming peaceful, thoughtful. He looked up at the hot sky, smirking to one side. "I wonder just what that technique looked like from your end…it must have been beautiful." He knew it had been an effect of the fire and sun glinting off of Tenten's weapons, but the clash was so brilliant and mesmerizing, that even when her weapons continued to rain for a solid minute, it still filled Deidara with a fleeting sensation.

"Find the body, grab the body, rip out the heart, give body to Sasori. Oo! Sasori-senpai will be happy if Tobi gives him the body for a present! That way he can start his collection again! Oh, Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is a good boy! Tobi is-…eh?" The awkward ninja who had flung his arms around in celebration and good emotion paused when he saw a bleeding, burned Tenten standing several feet before him. Her left eye was closed shut, bleeding, and her right was dazed, confused, and regarded him as a threat.

"…Whoa," Tobi said and held his hands out towards her in defense. "Y…y-y-you had a heavy fall!" he said, trying to dispel the dazed, killing intent in Tenten's brown eye. She whipped out a handful of shuriken from the wrappings on her thigh and created a fan of them in between her fingers.

"UOUUUUOOOH! You still have _more_!?" Tobi decided to run from the reanimated Tenten, as he mistook her for a zombie almost, and screamed his way back to Deidara. His voice gave the blonde an irritable warning about his early return, but he tucked his bloody hands into the pouches of clay at his side anyhow; had Suna shinobi come after them seeing the battle? Deidara stood and turned around shoulder, but his brow simply arched up when he saw no one coming after Tobi. The idiot skid to a holt…or tried to, and tripped over the massive amounts of weapons, falling into them and yelping as he rolled into new points and edges, and nearly barreling into Deidara had he not stepped to the side. Tobi landed upside down between two edges of a large windmill shuriken, seemingly stuck.

"IDIOT!" What is wrong with you today!?" Deidara had taken a gulp of clay into his hands and held one out in a now secured form of a tiny spider, aiming it at Tobi.

"Senpai! Senpai no! Zombie zombie! The girl is trying to kill Tobi!" Tobi used every impaled limb on his body to emphasize his fear. Deidara squinted at him, mouth slightly agape in a feature that read, 'You're a dumbass' and looked back over to the dunes Tobi had run from.

"Even if she _was_ trying to kill you, you're an Akatsuki Tobi! Just kill her again!" He blinked when he saw her head first, then the rest of her beaten figure. Deidara stared at the way the sun lighted Tenten from one side. it was setting and Tenten appeared golden to him, a war survivor from a tale of legend. A glint caught his eye and he saw the shuriken that was in her ready hand…whether she intended to throw them or not, Deidara couldn't tell by the way she appeared so exhausted.

"Senpai…" Tobi said. "Tobi'll trade bodies with you Senpai!" Deidara didn't even agree or disagree, he stepped towards Tenten with an awe still over his face. Tenten raised her head some as if seeing Deidara for the first time. His face was familiar to her. His awe melted into a smirk, as he found her familiar too. Of course, their last meeting was in the forest months beforehand- when Sasori had died, and had no wish to admire her skills at that time.

His gaze turned to her forehead- no protector. That blasted Konohagakure symbol was gone- and this kunoichi looked better without it.

"You had a brutal fall my dear, hm," Deidara said aloud, easily, smoothly, taking awareness of how badly Tenten was out of it. He held his hands up, hiding the spider back in one mouth to show her he wasn't going to attack her…only _show_ her. Tenten wavered for a moment, stumbled and caught herself. Getting closer, Deidara could see the burns on her, burns that needed immediate attention.

_"It's better if the heart is alive before the process," Kakuzu had told him. "Capture the Kazekage's brother for his likeness and talent with puppetry. Preferably alive…_

"_But, if the heart does die…our medic can fix it in several ways."_

Deidara remember how the old medic had shivered, but he could fix Kankuro's heart this girl destroyed. If time was of the essence they'd just take hers…if she didn't fall asleep from a concussion like this.

Tenten, in her slowness, flicked her wrist out and released the shuriken. Deidara was already behind her before the metal left her fingers and pressed her arms to her side. There was no battle, no struggle. Tenten's head was lolling on her shoulders. From the clay in both mouths on his hands, he reformed them into centipedes that wrapped tight around Tenten's worn and burnt body, keeping her from grabbing anymore weapons from her thighs. Deidara wanted to make sure though, and it may have been a personal curiosity for himself, sliding his painted fingers into the bandages carefully to pull out several more flat shuriken, tips protected with small balls of cotton to keep from prodding her.

"Smart," he commented. He felt her falling and caught her up bridal style, but gently shook her to keep her awake. "Don't sleep, little girl. You'll die, hm?"

"SENPAI!" Tobi yelled and caught his attention. Tobi had most of Kankuro's body wrapped up in cloth. Tobi himself still had weapons sticking out from all parts of his body. "I'M FINISHED SENPAAAAAIII!" Deidara frowned then looked back at Tenten. Her one eyes stared up at the sky, half-lidded. Again Deidara shook her gently.

"Don't go to sleep. Stay awake, eh?"


	2. Balm

**:3 I haz reviews~**

* * *

The organization's hideout was located back near the shores of the sea. The name of the country they were in was unknown, practically forgotten, and the only inhabitants they ever saw around were fishermen who appeared out in the water. They never touched the shorelines and always rowed away before sunset. With Kakuzu, Deidara, and Tobi, the hideout was formed underground with separate small chambers for the members, a meeting room, and then the extracting room. Deidara built in winding, narrow halls and sharp turns with unexpected drops to different levels. This was in case they were ever breached again, as it had been in the past.

Many of the members were not up when Tobi and Deidara had returned with Kankuro's remains and a hardly conscious Tenten in Deidara's arms. Tobi followed the blonde through his tunnels to a portion of the hideout that hadn't been paid much attention to. It was where they kept their captured opponents- if they even _needed_ to capture them -and left them to suffer. For information purposes, of course.

Tobi slouched completely forward, one arm dangling to the ground with his knuckles scraping against the floor. The bloody wrappings of Kankuro was slung over his other shoulder. Deidara was similarly tired. His visible eye was half-way closed, his sclera having turned red from lack of sleep. The scent of sand, heat, and the desert sun clung to their clothes. Traveling underground had also added the usual earthly scent to their skin and hair, but Suna refused to be swept away by wind or dirt.

Tenten herself was still out of the loop; she had a concussion, a horrible one, but her heart wasn't damaged and that was all that mattered right now. Her weight had been transferred between Deidara and Tobi throughout the last eleven days of travel. They took turns watching her when she slept, making sure she didn't die. Kakuzu would be pissed enough that Kankuro was deceased, even more so when he would see his heart was torn in several red fleshy pieces. The rotting smell could not be cloaked from the ghastly Suna man. As much dirt as Tobi dropped through, the scent clung to Kankuro's body that not eating became a chosen option between the two nin. Tobi and Deidara reeked of the desert and the corpse so strongly Kakuzu had to wrinkle his nose.

"_Why_ do I smell death?" the old man barked. After explaining what happened, Deidara ducked with Tenten in his arms from Kakuzu's black tendrils. They drove hard right through Tobi's face- literally through him, and stuck into the rock wall with such power the earth cracked. Tobi merely tilted his head to the side like a puppy, the tendrils sliding out of his phasing mask.

"I can fix the boy's heart," the old medic said. Deidara and Tobi turned their eyes over to the hunchbacked leathery small human in the corner, sitting on his knees atop a strewn mat of whicker and corn stalks. He had various bottles of different colored liquids- either clear or dark -and metal tools about him. There was blood on the mat, meaning he must have patched up one of the other members.

"If not," the old man continued, "then I will use the girl's." A growl resounded deep in Kakuzu's throat.

"No. If she is from Konoha, then Itachi will tell us if she is even suitable to be used for Sasori." At this, Deidara frowned dangerously, standing with shaky knees from the long walk. The joints in his ankles cracked loud from the effort. If only they could have flown back to the hideout, but Deidara had to keep a low profile to convince Konoha he was still dead.

"Don't speak as if I don't know what I am doing, Kakuzu, hm! I know Dana and I know when I see his talent. Weapons is one of those talents! You don't need to ask the _Uchiha_ for anything." Deidara spat out Itachi's surname between grit teeth. Kakuzu eyes were wide with rage and his nose crinkled.

"What is wrong with the girl?" the old medic asked. Beady eyes squinted from under bushy white brows, thick atop his wrinkled lids. Because of the tension between Kakuzu and Deidara, Tobi simply stepped over and dropped Kankuro's body like it was unimportant.

"She has a concussion. Fell from the sky and PLOP!" Tobi made his arms act out Tenten's fall, complete with the 'plop' noise.

"Oi, hm. You can heal concussions old man?" Deidara asked, but it wasn't in a nice manner. Kakuzu crossed his arms over his chest and glared down at Deidara, taking steps forward as the medic responded to him.

"I can. Those burns, though…I'm too late for that."

Deidara looked down at the red flesh covering part of Tenten's skin, then back up when Kakuzu was right in front of him.

"Screw this up, Deidara," Kakuzu seethed, "and you'll be without arms again."

* * *

Deidara's room was not big, despite what he could do with it. There was a narrow earthen hole in the wall that served as a closet for his clothes and various traveling packs- all of them containing fresh clay. There was a wooden box spring with a small cot fitted inside. It's quality wasn't the highest, but it was magic to Deidara's sore body. There was no pillow, but there were three thick covers to ward off the underground cold. There was a candle on the floor by the side of his bed that had remained lit. His door wasn't door, but a cloth hanging that stop at the man's knees. There were no decorations, no desks or chairs or tables- this was all he needed when he was traveling a majority of the time.

He passed out in his Suna clothes, arms to his side and face first into the mattress. Earth and sand fell off his sandals onto his blankets. Tenten was kept with the old medic who wanted to try and heal her burns despite the fact that she would be scarred. Deidara dreamed about her, subconsciously, floating in the air again with her scroll swimming around her like a large green ribbon. The sun highlighted all of her features; brown hair, light brown eyes, the sweat on her skin, the bruises and cuts on her faces and elbows, the rips and tears in her clothes, the definition of her muscled arms, everything was brought to focus. Never did he have such a focused dream where everything was clear and not fuzzy. Tenten was a heavenly nature in his sleep, and white flashing weapons rained down around her before a fiery inferno of red flames ate up her scroll and engulfed her. She didn't scream, in fact he didn't even see her through the flames, but when they exploded with her white rain of weapons and the burning metal pieces scatter everywhere like red falling stars, Tenten lay in the air in the current state she had been in the passed two weeks. Instead of falling, she was lowering down slowly. Deidara took steps towards her, not knowing why he reached his arms out for the descending girl. Then she was there in his arms, unconscious, burned, beaten, having survived such a lovely demonstration of art.

Deidara woke with a startled feeling in his chest. He rose to a sitting position and put one hand over it, feeling the palpations thump against his fingers.

"…What is this?" Deidara asked himself. He looked over at the flame, melting the candle ever lower to the floor. He thought of the flames that knocked the kunoichi out of the sky and the dazed look in her brown eyes when backlighted by the desert sun. It wasn't just the fight that exhilarated him, the thought that this mere weapons mistress who had tried to kill him early on could create such a fleeting experience mesmerized him. Perhaps it was because Sasori was the only other artist he had admired that Deidara never paid attention to how others fought, especially if they weren't artists like himself- and this girl was no artist.

But she created a work of art, and he surviving such a thing only meant, to him, she was capable of another ultimate creation.

When Deidara went back to the medic's room he found Tenten lying on the floor nearby him, wrapped in new bandages and wearing a pair of the same blue pants of the Akatsuki's. Deidara noticed that she was burned worse than he thought, seeing how the bandages traveled all over her torso and down over her stomach and no doubt under her pants. She was almost a mummy. The medic had to even wrap bandages over her neck, chin, left eye, ear, and forehead. The bandages took place of where her headband had once been. Both of her arms were laid right beside her body. Her left one was completely bandaged from shoulder to the tips of her fingers. The right was not so bad, the only wrapped portion being her elbow.

"She'll wake in a few more days," the medic said when he saw Deidara looking at her. "I gave her pain medicine for the burns." He motioned to Deidara to come over to him. The blonde did so, and checking around for Kakuzu, sat down in front of the old man and beside Tenten. "I wasn't able to heal the burns, but, if she keeps using this here-" and he held out a jar of brown balm, "-then the burns won't wrinkle her skin. She'll only have red blotches." It took Deidara a few seconds to realize the medic was offering him the balm. He frowned up at the medic.

"You expect me to help her, hm?"

"I won't be here long. I was able to fix the boy's heart. I don't know what the plans will be for her, but if she is allowed to live, she needs someone to look after her for a while," the medic said. Again he offered the balm to Deidara, but he wouldn't take it. With a ragged sigh, the medic set the balm nearby Tenten's head with ease.

"Sanzan is my name." Deidara wasn't sure how to respond to that, only quirk a brow at the old man. "Just…just so someone here knows who I was, other than 'the medic'." Underneath the wrinkled old skin, Sanzan smiled sadly at Deidara. The blonde had no reaction and watched as Sanzan set a leathery hand on Tenten's head. Her buns were still in tact, but they were loose.

"Tell her then. She seems to be one who would care to remember an old man."

* * *

Kankuro's heart was in tact and restored. Kakuzu kept it in his body to revive it, making it beat stronger in his own monstrous body. The issue of Tenten's life wasn't too important, but Itachi had identified her as someone who would have been able to give their heart to Sasori. That fact along made the decision making more complicated. Deidara found it irritating that Itachi actually backed up the girl as a powerful weapon mistress; Deidara could have told everyone that himself.

Course he couldn't have told them her name. he had secretly mused over the meaning of it, _heavenly_.

"She could become one of Sasori's underlings, then, right?" Kisame asked. "Just place a seal in her head and she's ours."

"Perhaps," commented Itachi. "She is gifted in fuuinjutsu, however. Given Sasori's ability upon revival, she could try fighting him off."

"I don't see what purpose she would serve with the state she is currently in," Konan admitted. The table looked to the woman- it was so rare for her to speak. She lacked emotion when she spoke, her arms crossed over her busty chest. She looked to Pein who had been sitting in the chair watching everyone with his unblinking eyes. "Konoha and Suna are at war now. She can't give us intel on Konoha. She won't agree to work for us. She isn't our level either, Pein. Akatsuki has no use for this girl."

Pein was taking this into considering when Tobi raised his hand rather enthusiastically. Pein looked over to him and nodded, "Yes Tobi."

"Leader-sama, Tobi was once not part of Akatsuki. I was Zetsu-san's subordinate and Zetsu-san is a good teacher. That's why Tobi is a good boy!" One of the members palmed their face with a loud smack. "Tenten can't go free, but she doesn't have die."

"Tobi…you really don't know what it is to be an Akatsuki, let alone a _shinobi_, do you," Deidara muttered under his breath.

"But senpai! You were very fond of her over the journey!" Deidara's eye bulged. "You took charge over her than To-BLAHIAUDG"

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" Deidara hollered, having quickly disappeared from his eat all the way up near Pein to the other end where Tobi sat, kicking him in the face all the way to the floor and repeatedly stomping on him. The announcement did no stop Hidan and Kisame's woos and hollers. Zetsu chuckled to himself and Konan had raised a brow.

"Oh," she said, as if realizing the whole thing wasn't about Tenten being with Akatsuki, but with Deidara.

"YOU DEGENERATE LITTLE PRICK WHY WOULD YOU SAY THAT!" Deidara continued to holler. Tobi yelped and shouted in pain, shouting apologies and sympathies to his abuser. To no avail, Deidara continued to beat up the taller nin with utmost embarrassment all over his face accompanied with rage.

While Hidan and Kisame howled with laughter and vulgar jokes aimed at the blonde (pissing him off more), Pein blinked once and stared at Deidara's back. Itachi simply looked away from the sight so he couldn't be read and Kakuzu rubbed his left temple.

"Very well then," Pein spoke. All matter of noises and action stopped.

"WHAT!?" Deidara had Tobi's face smothered to the hard cavern floor, a look of shock on his face that left his eye wide in surprise and his hair in a split furry, having turned his head too fast. Save for Itachi, the other members also looked at Pein for some type of reason. Kisame and Hidan were still snorting under their breath, not able to believe this was actually being approved.

Pein continued, "Deidara is our youngest member at nineteen. It is natural for young men to go through phases." This turned Deidara's face scarlet- he had _not_ thought of Tenten in such a way! She merely fascinated him with her jutsu!

"Also," Pein said, "Deidara has done much work for the organization. I feel as if everyone else is slacking. Deidara, you will watch after the girl until she comes to. Then, you and I will decide how her situation will work in the future. First order of business, of course, is Sasori." Pein had changed subjects so fast intentionally to draw the smiling humor away from Deidara. His small self was dumfounded where he stood, unable to blink or say anything.

"Enjoy your break, Deidara-san," Zetsu whispered to him. Tobi latched onto Zetsu's foot and cried, a stream of water pouring from the eye socket of his mask.

"Zetsu-senpaaaai, save Tobi!"

* * *

Deidara's room was too small for him and Tenten, so he construct a room next to his, that with an added entryway he put by his closet that lead from his to hers. The only way she would get out was going through his room- she no door or window, just a confined space like his. Tobi gave Deidara hit cot, feeling bad about Tenten sleeping on the stone. Deidara about threw it back at him, but remembering Tenten's burns he accepted it. If he was going to care for this girl, he would make as simple as possible.

Only two pairs of clothes were brought for Tenten- two more pairs of the same pants, net undershirts, and sleeveless shirts the same color of the pants. It was the Akatsuki attire without the cloak, even the sandals- if she would be walking anytime soon.

Deidara went to retrieve her that night and found the medic asleep against the wall, his hand still on her head. Once Deidara was in front of them, Sanzan gently woke up, saw Deidara, and smile sadly again. Deidara frowned at him and crinkled his lip in disrespect, bending to pick up Tenten bridal style. Tobi, curious, had followed him to the cell and stood in the doorway.

"Senpai, can Tobi help?" Deidara was beginning to think it was Tobi who had the crush on Tenten. Without a word, Deidara rolled the jar of balm up his right leg, let it roll back down to his foot, and then flung it at Tobi's face. Tobi bent back and caught the jar before it hit him or the wall behind him.

"Eugh, what is this stuff?" Tobi asked. Deidara said nothing further to Sanzan and left him there in the cell, knowing he would be dead by the next morning. Tobi followed Deidara back to his rooms where he talked about the recent mission Kakuzu and Hidan just got, and repeating Hidan's very words of Jashin related things. Deidara tried blocking him out as he lay Tenten down on the cot and covered her with a thin blanket. He knelt therhe, watching her sleeping face in the candlelight. Tobi stopped talking at some point, watching his senpai…up close and personal.

He had snuck right up under Deidara again, cocked his head to the side, "Like a baby~"

…

"STOP GETTING UNDERNEATH ME!" Deidara yelled and tossed Tobi out of his room. The tall boy smashed face-first, upside down into the opposite wall in the hallway with a grunt and slid down to the floor with a grunt.


End file.
